


see it through

by ccj



Series: Meddlesome [3]
Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, sibling love and support! etc!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-11 22:42:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19935712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ccj/pseuds/ccj
Summary: “Hey TJ?” She calls out as he goes. He stops walking but doesn’t turn around. “I think he could be really good for you.”5 times Amber meddles in TJ’s relationship +1 time TJ meddles in hers





	see it through

**Author's Note:**

> This follows canon but I wrote it before any of 3B aired so it merges at part 4. Also doesn't totally follow canon in that TJ and Amber are twins and Jonah and Amber never get back together bc Amber is a lesbian (but let's be real that's the canon of our hearts). Enjoy!

1.

TJ is six posts into Cyrus’s instagram (only six, a totally and completely reasonable amount if you don’t account for how long he spends on every photo, particularly the most recent one of him in that suit at his Bar Mitzvah. God, that stupid suit.) when Amber makes her appearance into the living room. Of course, she enters sneakily behind him, because she’s always had a flair for the dramatic.

“He’s cute,” Her voice booms and he locks his phone and chucks it so far across the room he’s pretty sure it must have shattered despite landing on carpet. Shit. Curse his raw basketball talent. “Jumpy,” She stalks across the room and picks it up, sits on the couch next to him, and unlocks it. He really needs to change his password.

“It’s not-”

“I know him.”

“You do?” TJ can’t help the way his head whips around to face her.

“Well duh,” She scrolls through the photos more quickly until she lands on one that she turns to show him. It’s a picture of Cyrus with his arm wrapped around Jonah Beck captioned “The Space Otters’ number one fan and their number one player! Congrats on a great game Jonah! #docious”

“Oh.”

“Oh indeed big brother,” Amber nods somberly, “Our paths crossed during my tragic heterosexual days. I even set him up with Iris.”

“Oh,” He repeats.

“Don’t worry, he’s totally gay. I mean, I don’t think he’s out but he kissed Iris and then panicked and said it would never get better and ran out of the room and ghosted her? Like, you have to either be an asshole or gay or a gay asshole to do something that weird. Especially to Iris, she’s too cute!”

“So. You like Iris now?”

“No. You like Cyrus now?”

“N-no…”

“That hesitation was way too strong,” Amber sighs and scrolls back to the top of his profile, “I have to do everything for you don’t I big brother?” She clicks on message and leaps to her feet before he can jump to stop her. Fuck her cat-like reflexes. “Hey boo!” She shouts, typing while running upstairs just out of reach, “Saw a baby tater crushed on the sidewalk and thought of you! The horror, oh the horror! What’s not a horror though is me taking you out on Friday! XOXO your Ty Ty.”

“AHHH!” By the time they’ve reached Amber’s room, TJ has resorted to just charging her. The two collapse on the carpet and Amber cackles, barely resisting as he wrestles it out of her hands. Unfortunately, the message has already been sent. Fortunately, it just reads “Hey what’s up! :))”

“Oh,” TJ drops his phone beside him, breathing heavily.

“Yeah, _oh_ , dummy,” Amber rolls her eyes, turning over to face him as he lies on his back, staring up at the ceiling. “I wouldn’t sabotage you like that. I like the idea of the two of you. It’s cute. Frankly, Cyrus could do better but…” His phone buzzes (according to Amber he’s the only fourteen year old to still have his phone on vibrate) and she snatches it up immediately, swiping into the message. “That was fast,” She grins at him, “Nothing much!” She reads aloud, in a terrible Cyrus impression that involves her pitching her voice way too deep, “Just waiting on some baby taters, doing some homework, ya know, the us...use-...how do you say the cool and casual abbreviation of usual in a message?!”

TJ, despite himself, smiles at that as Amber reads the next message that comes in, “Also, why are you dming me weirdo? Just text me!” She raises an eyebrow at that, “Ah. So you two text?”

“Yeah. Can I have my phone back?”

“You like him,” Amber says. It’s not a question.

“If I say yes will you give me my phone back?”

She tosses it the few inches over and he grabs it, jumps to his feet to leave her room, already texting Cyrus back.

“Hey TJ?” She calls out as he goes. He stops walking but doesn’t turn around. “I think he could be really good for you.”

“Yeah. I know.”

2.

The thing is, he does know. The thing is, Cyrus makes him feel better and do better. He even tells Amber that he has a learning disability (to which she says “If only you’d met him earlier, we’d still be in the same grade.” He didn’t mention Cyrus when he told her. She just knew.)

The thing is, he can feel his whole heart in his chest in a whole new way when he’s so much as in the same room as him. Which is why TJ chokes on air and drops the stack of empty cups he’s shamefully bringing down from his room to the kitchen when he walks downstairs on a Saturday morning still bleary eyed from sleep to see Cyrus, dressed to the nines in a striped button up.

TJ is so sure he’s dreaming until Cyrus is jumping up to help him pick up all the stupid (thankfully plastic) cups and fumbling through an apology for startling him.

“‘S fine,” He waves a hand, picks up the two cups that Cyrus didn’t leap for, and looks at him. Cyrus looks back and gapes for a moment that lasts far too long for TJ’s already beating too fast heart. “Uh...hi?”

“Glasses.”

“What?” TJ’s eyes go wide and he’s suddenly made aware of Amber’s presence in the room by the snort she lets out. He still doesn’t break eye contact with Cyrus.

“I mean, you’re wearing glasses! I didn’t know you...had...bad eyesight!”

“Well, I do?” TJ doesn’t mean for it to come out like a question but it does. “I don’t wear my contacts around the house...or...hair gel,” He runs a hand through his hair, suddenly insecure.

“Right.” Cyrus doesn’t say anything else, just stares. TJ can’t handle it anymore, grabs the cups from Cyrus’s hands, and lunges for the sink. “So you just woke up?” Cyrus’s voice comes out squeaky, “I mean uh, if so I should wish you a good morning. Good morning!”

Despite his sheer embarrassment, TJ smiles as he begins to wash the first cup because their dishwasher broke three months ago and they don’t have the money to fix it and probably won’t for awhile, “Good morning Cyrus. What are you doing in my house?”

“Oh!” Cyrus’s eyes go wide, “Amber,” He points a thumb towards her frantically.

“Yup,” TJ turns now to see Amber at the stove, diligently flipping pancakes, “We’re making pancakes.”

“Right...well thanks for the invite,” Adding an “or the heads up,” under his breath before more loudly asking “Since when do you two hang out?”

“Since I started seeing Goodman senior for therapy. I felt inspired to spend time with Goodman junior,” She winks, tosses a pancake effortlessly onto a plate, and hands it to Cyrus. TJ takes a moment to hate her for acting far more smoothly around his crush than he is as he dries his dishes.

“Ah so he knows about that,” Cyrus sits across from the sink at the counter, right at TJ’s eye level, pouring a sickening amount of syrup on his pancakes.

“Yup,” Amber starts on a batch of banana chocolate chip that he assumes are for him, “TJ knows all my secrets.”

“He does?” Cyrus’s eyes go wide, “I mean he does! Cool. Well...then you’d agree with me that she should just ask Andi out already.”

“WHAT?” TJ drops a cup for the second time today and wishes he hadn’t woken up so early today. Curse his tiny bladder.

“Cyrus!” Amber hisses, “Not that one!”

“Oh my god,” Cyrus sinks his face into his hands, “You said _every one_! How was I supposed to know? I’m in disaster mode, I need to go back to bed, I should just leave and go back to bed.”

Cyrus gets up to go and TJ, in his first moment of smoothness for the day, reaches over and places a hand on his shoulder. “At least enjoy your pancakes first Cy.” He’s never called him that before. Why did he call him that? And why is Cyrus blushing?

He spins around to face Amber to avoid blushing back to find her nervously pushing his pancake around the pan...oh shit. “Oh shit. Andi?! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was going to! It’s just...new.”

“So you told Cyrus?” He spins back around to face the boy who is now frantically shoveling pancakes into his mouth, “No offense.”

He says something that sounds vaguely like none taken, satisfying TJ enough to turn back to Amber. “I’m your brother Ambs. Why didn’t you trust me? I thought we talked to each other about...this kind of stuff…” His voice trails off so it’s near silent and he pointedly doesn’t look at Cyrus.

“We do! I do trust you I just...didn’t trust you to care.”

“What’s _that_ supposed to mean?!”

“I’m gonna go.”

TJ and Amber both turn to see Cyrus on his feet. “No!” The two call out in sync.

“Cyrus you don’t have to-”

“I do,” TJ’s never seen him this direct before. “I don’t really do fighting,” he shrugs, “Child of divorce thing.”

“Oh. Shit.” Now he’s made a fool and a dick out of himself in front of his crush in one morning. He really can’t win today. “Cyrus I’m so-”

“It’s fine,” He waves a hand far too casually, “If you um, need to swing later, when you’ve calmed down some, text me yeah? And thanks for having me Amber,” With that, he promptly heads out the door.

Amber and TJ exchange one long, panicked look in his wake before they both let out a simultaneous “Fort?”

They smile, just a bit, Amber plates the last pancake and turns off the stove, and they head up to TJ’s room to build one, like they always have. They’re sitting cross legged, crouched under the borderline toppling pile of blankets when Amber sighs, “We’re assholes aren’t we?”

“Yup.”

“It’s like...no matter what we do we just...will we ever be worthy of people like Andi and Cyrus, TJ?” She asks and it almost sounds like a plea. Even in the dim light caused by the blankets stacked over sheets he can see the pure terror in her face.

“I don’t know,” He answers honestly and in true big brother even if it’s only by eight minutes form, he wishes he could give her more. “I guess all we can do is try.”

“Right. Well, in the sake of trying...I’m sorry about what I said, in the kitchen. Of course you care. I guess just with the way dad’s been lately I’m so afraid of being left behind but that’s not you and I-”

“Hey,” TJ wraps an arm around her, pulls her close. “It’s okay. Thank you...for apologizing. Is that what I’m supposed to say?”

“I don’t know honestly,” She lets out a watery laugh, “Also um, if we’re still doing this apologizing thing-”

“Oh god, what?”

“I totally didn’t tell you Cyrus was coming on purpose because I wanted him to see you with your glasses and without all your stupid hair gel,” She says it in one quick rush. It takes him a moment to process it but when he does he smacks her on the arm, “OW! Look, it’s the best rom com cliche! Except instead of the nerdy guy removing his glasses and getting a fancy hairdo, it’s the jock guy doing the opposite.”

“Jesus.”

“But Cyrus is a nerd! So like...TJ.”

“Oh my god, what?”

“I think it totally worked!”

“I think you _totally_ need to stop talking.”

“Hey TJ,” He looks down at her to see she’s looking up, grinning her typical devilish grin. Even as the Kippens try to better themselves and maybe in the eyes of the rest of the world beyond the walls of this fort transform completely, some things never change. “One word. Glasses.”

“Four words,” He reaches up, yanks down the blankets of the fort, causing it to completely topple over, “You’re dead Amber Kippen.”

*

Later, when the fort’s been packed up and Amber’s gone to her room to do homework, which he now knows is probably code for pine over Andi, TJ takes Cyrus up on his offer to meet him at the swings. He’s already swinging when TJ arrives, doing that thing he does where he sort of sways his legs back and forth to prevent from going too high.

“Hey,” TJ sits down beside him. “I’m uh sorry about earlier. That really wasn’t...cool. Wow, that was terrible wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, it was. We’ve gotta work on your apology skills.”

“Agreed,” TJ begins to swing but mimics Cyrus to remain low, beside him, “But I did mean it you know?”

“Yeah, I do,” They swing in silence for a moment, aside from some bugs chirping as the sun has long set by now, until Cyrus asks, “Did you guys work things out?”

“Oh yeah, for sure. We just kind of have a me and her against the world thing going so it weirded me out that she didn’t tell me but...yeah we’re good. And it’s cool she likes Andi. I mean, she’s cool.”

“Considering she’s literally my best friend I’d have to agree with you on that one,” Cyrus smiles at him but quickly drops his gaze back to where his feet are now dragging against the mulch, “So um...you’re cool? With Amber being gay?”

“Well yeah, of course.”

He bites back an _I’d be a hypocrite not to_ but it hangs there in his mind until Cyrus pipes up with an, “I am too. Gay. Like...her. I mean, not like her she’s a lesbian and I’m a gay man a gay...boy. Well actually with my Bar Mitzvah- wow I should stop talking.”

“You should. Thanks for telling me Cyrus.”

“Of course!”

“Any other pressing confessions?” He won’t admit it, but he’s really only looking for one.

“Yeah,” Cyrus says and TJ’s heart beats faster, “I’m disappointed you’re not wearing your glasses anymore.”

TJ laughs at this, genuinely startled. It’s not what he was hoping for but it still makes his heart keep beating that stupidly fast beat, “I’ll wear them for you sometime,” He says and then finally, he begins to swing high.

3.  
TJ heads straight to Amber’s room when he gets home to find her in the center of her bed, eyes narrowed in on two pieces of string. “UGH!” She shouts, throwing a canister of beads at the wall and just nearly missing his head. “Oh shit, sorry, I didn’t see you.”

“Uh huh sure you didn’t,” he flops down on the bed beside her, “You good?”

“Yeah just...how does Andi make these?!”

“You’re making her a bracelet?”

“Yeah it’s kind of a symbolic thing...never mind that,” she brings her narrowed gaze to his face, reaches a hand forward and shakes his chin. He pushes her off as she says, “You’re not mr mopey anymore. What happened?”

“IThinkCyrusAndIAlmostKissed” he blurts it out impossibly fast but she still screams.

“YOU AND CYRUS KISSED?”

“Shut up!” He brings a hand up and slams it against her mouth, “Dad might hear you. And I said almos-“ Amber bites down and he draws his hand back with a yelp, “Ew! I hate when you do that!”

“Then don’t put your hand where it doesn’t belong Ty Ty.”

“Oh my god stop calling me that,” TJ rolls away from her, reaching out to grab the fox stuffed animal she sleeps with every night and wrapping his arms around it, “and to think I was having a good day…”

“Okay stop being dramatic and spill! So you guys worked things out? That’s great TJ.”

“Yeah it is right? I can’t believe he’d…you know…take me back,” he can almost hear the disbelief in his own voice.

“I can. You’re a good guy TJ.”

“Ha,” he barks out a single laugh, “Funny.”

“I mean it,” Amber pulls Foxy down a bit so she can look him in the eyes, “You are TJ. I’m proud of you. Reed keeps calling me by the way.”

“Ew. Block his number.”

“Only if you tell me about this almost kiss.”

“Weird exchange. I don’t know, we were just...so close to each other and I told him he’s the only person I can talk to like well ya know-“

“Hey! What about me?!”

“Oh shut up,” He uses Foxy to whack her lightly across the chest, “it would have been unromantic to bring my sister into it.”

“Unromantic….interesting...so it _was_ romantic?!” She takes the opportunity of the whack to try to grab onto Foxy but he holds on tight and she lets him, “Tell me, when he left did he turn back to look at you?”

“Oh my god shut up. Don’t tell me you still believe in that stupid thing.”

“You’d be surprised! It’s almost foolproof.”

“Keywords: almost and fool,” he smirks at her.

“Oh shut up,” she pushes the box of bracelet supplies to the side and lies down beside him. “So what’s the plan?”

“The plan?”

“You gotta do something cute...hmm...hold on, loading scheme.”

“Oh my god, just stick to your bracelet thing.”

“Ooh! Does Jefferson still do costume day around this time of year?”

“I don’t know, probably, I don’t do that shit but I haven’t seen the team in their annual just wearing their basketball uniforms to be the Wildcats costume.”

“Well this year you should do a couples costume!”

“That’s...oh no.”

“What?!”

TJ groans, dramatically laying Foxy over his eyes, “Now I have an idea. I’m sure he’s doing something with Andi and Buffy, it doesn’t matter.”

“Well if it hasn’t been announced yet, you swoop before they can big brother. Duh! Have I taught you nothing TJ?!”

“Oh no, you’ve taught me the most important lesson of all,” he pitches his voice up, “If they look back at you-“

“SHUT UP!” She grabs a pillow, hitting him hard, “Get out of my room Tyler James!”

“Alright alright,” he jumps to his feet, rolling off of her bed.

“And pick up those beads I threw at your head on your way out!”

“I knew you did it on purpose! And no.”

“It’s the surcharge of all the love advice I give you,” he scurries to the door but she chases him to the doorway. “TJ!”

“I’m totally not picking all those beads up.”

“Not that,” she rolls her eyes, “I just wanted to say. This Cyrus shit? Don’t screw it up okay?”

“I won’t, believe me,” he nods seriously, “Never again.”

4.

TJ screws everything up.

He’s two hours into his post costume day angst fest when Amber bursts into the room, phone in hand, “TYLER JAMES KIPPEN! Do you mind explaining why- oh my god are you...are you crying?”

“No,” TJ sniffles. The lights are off so she can’t see him which is his only saving grace, he thinks, as she walks across the room and flicks the lamp on by his bed. Shit. “Shit it’s...just go away Amber.”

“No...TJ what is this I…” He looks down at her phone to see Jefferson Middle School’s official instagram page. Amber’s four photos into the slideshow, zoomed in on Cyrus’s face in the stupid Mount Rushmore costume. “Why is Cyrus a rock?”

“He’s not a rock. He’s Thomas Jefferson.”

“Why? TJ. Talk to me.”

He does. It takes a bit more prodding but finally he tells her and if he cries a bit more, she looks the other way. When she looks back she looks...angry and this is it, he thinks. He’s going to lose her too.

“I’m going to kill her.”

“What? Who?”

“Who?” Amber lets out a laugh, “This Kira bitch. Where does she live? I’m gonna kill her.”

“Amber...it’s my fault, not hers. She didn’t do anything-”

“Are you crazy? TJ,” She reaches forward and smacks the side of his head, “Wake up! She blackmailed you.”

TJ blinks at her. “She didn’t...what?”

“Listen,” Amber turns her body to face him head on, crossing her legs as she does which for Amber Kippen means she means business, “I know a thing or two...or three...or a billion about the manipulation that comes with being a mean girl. It’s different than the shit you used to pull on Buffy,” He cringes visibly, “Don’t shame spiral about that it’s not relevant right now. Girls like her...like, like me...they get in your head. She’s in your head TJ. Don’t let that ruin things with the only boy you’ve ever given the time of day.”

“You’re not like her Amber.”

“I was,” Amber shrugs, “Maybe I still am sometimes.”

“You’re not, Amber don’t say that-”

“I’ll stop saying that if you talk to Cyrus,” She extends her pointer finger, because when they were kids the Kippen siblings decided that pinky swears were overrated and it stuck. “Promise?”

“Yeah,” He links his pointer finger with hers, “Promise.”

*

Things are more complicated than that. Amber and TJ are still learning how to apologize and forgot to factor in the part where Cyrus may not (definitely does not) want to talk to TJ.

Things are complicated. There’s a part of Amber that’s proud of Cyrus for standing his ground. Andi spends half her time sleeping in Amber’s bed to avoid her parents. Amber keeps the bracelet she made her hidden under six layers of winter coats in her closet.

Amber goes to TJ’s room one night when Andi falls asleep early. He’s sitting at his desk, staring out the window. There’s no music playing which is maybe the scariest part after the fact that he doesn’t notice her come in.

“Hey,” She says from the door. He visibly startles.

“Uh hey,” His voice is gruff, tired. He sounds like their dad for a moment and it’s unsettling but she pushes past it.

“What’s up kid?”

“I’m the older one,” He leans back in his chair, “I don’t think he’ll ever talk to me again Amber.”

She sits down at his feet, presses her back against the drawers of the desk. It’s warm by the window. Summer is coming and she feels...unprepared for it somehow. “TJ…”

“What do I do if he never talks to me again?” She looks up to see him staring out the window. There’s not much to see, just the house beside theirs. She wonders how long he’s been sitting here and she almost asks if he’s even eaten dinner when his voice comes out as a whisper, “Seriously, what do I do?”

“I guess you move on? I don’t know…” She thinks of Andi, fast asleep a room away, “I’ve never been very good at that.”

“Me neither. I just wish...I just wish he’d hear me out. I get why he doesn’t but if he did maybe...no, it’s stupid.”

“Write him a letter.”

“He’d throw it away.”

She shrugs, “Then write it for you. Write what you’d tell him if he would listen. At least that’s healing.”

“Right…” He says in a bit of a daze, “Healing.” Before he can ask, she moves her head so he can get a paper and pen out of the top drawer of his desk.

*

She waits until he’s asleep, hunched over still on his desk, to take the letter. She checks the time (it’s ten P.M.) then grabs TJ’s computer and opens spotify. Cyrus is still listening to his aptly titled Sounds like Sadness playlist. She quietly slips the letter out from TJ’s hands and makes a break to the front door.

She realizes as she parks her bike outside of Cyrus’s mom’s house that she doesn’t know if he’s here or at his dad’s. Shit. It’s a 50/50 chance so she likes her odds but she doesn’t like her luck. Luck seems to run from wherever Amber and TJ find themselves. She knocks anyways.

“Amber?” Cyrus’s mom startles when she answers the door, “It’s far past any appointment time dear.”

“I know. I’m really sorry to bother you Mrs. Goodman but is Cyrus here? I just need to see him for five minutes tops. Well, maybe ten, depending on how stubborn he is.”

Mrs. Goodman deliberates for a moment and Amber literally crosses her fingers with the hand that isn’t clutching onto the letter for dear life and holds her breath until Mrs. Goodman asks, “Does this have anything to do with the bad mood he’s been in lately?”

“Yes. Yes, absolutely. I just want your son to feel better...ma'am?”

Mrs. Goodman sighs, “Alright, come in. Fifteen minutes and then I’m driving you home, you shouldn’t be biking at this hour-”

“Thank you Mrs. Goodman! So much!” Amber flies past her and up the stairs, coming to a grinding halt outside of Cyrus’s room. She inhales. One shot, Kippen. She knocks three times and waits.

“Come in.”

Amber enters. Cyrus’s room is...a mess of clothes littering the floor that he sits at the middle of. “I know it’s bad, but when I get it all sorted it’ll be so much better-” He halts when he looks up, eyes going wide, “Amber?”

“Hey,” She gives a tiny wave, “Can I still come in?”

“Um…” He leans over and pauses his spotify playlist, “Sure? Is everything okay? Is Andi okay? She can stay with me if she needs to.”

Amber walks across the room, pushing aside a teetering pile of button ups in order to sit beside him, “Actually, I’m here about TJ.”

“Oh...then I retract that come in.”

“You’re cold blooded now Goodman,” Amber smiles, “I like that. It’s about time.”

Cyrus rolls his eyes, “Your brother is cold blooded. I just followed suit. What, let me guess, you want me to talk to him?”

“No,” She shakes her head, holding the letter forward, “I just want you to read this.”

“Did he write that?”

“Yes.”

“What does it...say?”

“I actually don’t know. I didn’t read it, it’s just for you. All I want is for you to read it Cyrus. After that, you can throw it in a trash can and then set the whole trash can on fire and never speak to him again if you want to I just...I think the most amazing thing that’s ever happened to TJ was you taking a chance on him. I’m just asking you to take one more.”

Cyrus groans into his hands, “Sometimes I just...get tired of playing everyone’s therapists. No offense it’s just...exhausting. Why aren’t I allowed to be stupid and angry and not text back sometimes?”

“Cyrus, you can do all those things, you should do all those things. But this isn’t even about TJ.” Cyrus laughs at that, “Okay, maybe it is because I’m biased but guess what loser? I care about you too and you deserve to know the full story.”

“What? What do you mean the full story?”

Amber places the letter neatly down in front of him, on top of a white shirt with a black S that she assumes is in the to-burn pile. “See for yourself,” She says and leaves him be, crossing her fingers again as she goes.

5.

It doesn’t happen overnight but it does happen. Eventually, they’re acquaintances again and then they’re casual friends and then Cyrus is over half the time and being around them, even if they’re somehow not dating yet, makes Amber feel like a third wheel.

“I can’t take it anymore,” Amber groans dramatically into Andi’s pillow when a movie night with TJ and Cyrus unsurprisingly started to feel more like a date night and she makes a swift exit.

“What?” Andi’s voice sounds panicked from across the room and her concern makes Amber smile into the pillow, “Is it your dad? Are you okay?”

Amber turns back over with a sigh, “I’m fine. It’s just TJ and Cyrus.”

“Oh yeah. When’s TJ going to ask him out already?”

Amber lets out a laugh, “Uh I could ask the same about Cyrus.”

“No you couldn’t! Cyrus thinks TJ is straight which I’m assuming by the way that TJ looks at him isn’t the case.”

Amber lets out a nervous laugh, “I am not confirming or denying that statement.”

“Whatever,” Andi moves to sit beside Amber and begins to braid Amber’s hair which is something she does now as if it’s totally casual. It may or may not render her unable to breathe every time. “After the costume day fiasco there’s no way Cyrus would put his heart on the line. It’s up to TJ.”

“You’re right,” Amber closes her eyes and prays her foundation is enough to cover how hard she’s blushing right now. When Andi reaches the end of the braid and begins to undo it, just so she can redo it and make Amber’s heart beat fast all over again, she opts for a distraction. She grabs her phone and sends TJ a single text: Kiss him already dumbass.

*

Amber’s been gone for twenty minutes and TJ’s already freaking out. He knows she hates third wheeling but he kind of intentionally forms their plans around Amber’s work schedule so she’ll be home. It’s not that he hates being alone with Cyrus, it’s more that he hates how much he loves being alone with Cyrus. They’ve moved on from flirty banter and witty comments about the movie to TJ silently and nervously looking around the room when Cyrus pauses it.

TJ turns to him, “Hey that was a great part!” Admittedly, he has no clue what part it was.

“We can watch One Day any day Teej. Ha!” He smiles at his own terrible joke which is far too endearing, “Are you okay?” He turns his head to the side, considering TJ carefully. It always feels like he’s looking right through him when he does that. “You don’t seem very...in it right now.”

“I’m fine.”

“I can go home if you want?”

“NO!” TJ borderline shouts, “No, I just uh...can’t focus on a movie right now. Let’s just...do you wanna see a good dog video?” He asks pathetically but Cyrus just grins widely and TJ is so, so gone.

“How could I ever say no to that?!”

Cyrus moves closer to see TJ’s phone and TJ realizes he’s made a terrible mistake but six dog videos in, he relaxes a bit. He can do this, he thinks. Then, just as they’re halfway through a video of a corgi’s fourth birthday party and TJ’s making some dumb remark about the dog’s tutu, a text from Amber comes in.

Shit. “Shit,” TJ locks his phone and throws it across the room. He’s got to stop doing that. He turns to Cyrus, hoping maybe he didn’t see it but Cyrus is looking up at him with wide eyes and. Shit. “It...it’s not what it looks like. Or sounds like. She’s talking about my dog.”

“TJ…” Cyrus speaks very slowly, like he’s trying to figure this out himself, “You don’t have a dog.”

“Ahhhh!” TJ buries his face in his hands but there’s no way out of this. He’s going to die right here, right now, of sheer and total embarrassment. He really thought that was just a figure of speech until today but boy was he wrong.

“TJ…” Cyrus says again, “Is this some kind of sick joke?”

“What?” TJ lifts his face up and looks at Cyrus who doesn’t look as horrified as he expected but more...scared.

“That’s a really cruel prank TJ.”

“What? What prank?!”

“This is great this is just great,” Cyrus looks around the room frantically, “Is there a hidden camera somewhere?”

“What?”

“For when you kiss me?” Cyrus is on his feet now.

“Cyrus I…” It’s now or never, TJ realizes as Cyrus pauses. Quite literally, now or never. “I like you? She sent that text because she knows I want...to kiss you.”

“Oh,” Cyrus flops back down onto the couch, “You…you like me,” He says and TJ has never been more terrified than he is in this moment. Cyrus laughs hysterically.

“Okay. Now I feel like I’m the one being pranked.”

“What?” Cyrus’s laughter stops short, “No, no, it’s just...we’re so stupid TJ.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot.”

“What?”

“That I’m stupid,” TJ shrugs, like it’s nothing, like it’s not the most hurtful thing he’s ever heard including the time that Amber said he looked like if Kenicke from Grease was an ugly toddler.

“I didn’t say that TJ,” He doesn’t know when it happened but Cyrus is closer to him now. Much, much closer. “I said _we’re_ stupid. And I’m saying…”

“What?”

“Well now, I’m saying I think you should take her advice.”

“Whose?”

Cyrus impossibly inches closer, just a bit, “Amber’s.”

Oh. “Oh.” There’s no way. There’s no way after all this time, after everything, that this gets to happen him. There’s no way he gets to have this, he’s telling himself, convincing himself, borderline pinching himself, but Cyrus is looking at him with those stupidly big brown eyes and-

“Kiss me TJ.”

Now he really does pinch himself, just once. When he doesn’t wake up, he does the impossible and kisses Cyrus Goodman and Cyrus does the impossible and kisses back and back and back and he’s not sure how long it’s been (probably not long but everything feels impossibly slow) when they’re interrupted by Amber’s squeal.

They spring apart and she lets out a laugh, “Well don’t stop on my account,” She winks, before practically skipping upstairs.

+1

Amber knows that something is up as soon as she walks into The Spoon. For one thing, Cyrus and TJ are nowhere to be found despite insisting she come meet them for lunch.

For another thing, the bracelet she made Andi and kept buried in her closet is sitting in the middle of their usual table. She snatches it up quickly, looking around a few times before she spots the top of a gelled head behind the counter. She rolls her eyes and snatches up the note beside the bracelet that reads, in TJ’s shitty penmanship “You deserve this Ambs” with an addition in much neater penmanship that just reads “(seriously)”.

Amber shoves it into her pocket but she keeps a finger on it as she watches Andi enter, looking equally confused.

“Hi?” Andi sits down anyways and Amber sits down across from her, “Have you seen Cyrus and TJ? We’re supposed to-”

“Get lunch. I know, me too. I think this is some kind of set up.”

“A set up?” Andi frowns, “For what?”

Now or never Kippen. “Uh, a date, I think.”

“Oh.”

“I think I’m supposed to ask you if you’ll wear this you know, for me,” She fishes the bracelet out of her pocket and slides it across the table.

“Oh my god,” Andi holds it up to her eyes, “Did you make this? Amber!” She practically squeals, “I’m so impressed! And oh...I’m getting ahead of myself, did you say wear it for you?”

“Yes?”

Andi gapes and Amber is really regretting not just saying no. “Well if I had known this was happening…” Andi says in that way she’s been speaking more and more lately where her voice is just so much softer than Amber feels like she deserves, “I would have brought the one I made you.”

“Really?” Amber’s voice comes out three octaves higher than she ever knew it could.

Andi slips the bracelet onto her wrist and reaches a hand forward, taking Amber’s hand into hers, “Really.”

*

“Is it going well?” Cyrus whispers, “I can’t see but I feel like it’s going well.”

“Hold on,” TJ whispers back, squeezing Cyrus’s hand before (reluctantly) letting go and jumping up to look at the two girls, “They’re smiling, that’s good right?”

“I think smiling is always good. Except for the type of smile Buffy always has when you’re beating her at something and she’s trying to play nice.”

“Oh god, don’t make me think of that,” TJ shudders.

“Sorry!”

“What kind of boyfriend are you, putting nightmares in my head?”

“Ahem.” The two boys are cut off by a very fake throat clearing above them. TJ looks up slowly to see both Amber and Andi looming over him and yeah, maybe he should have left the scheming to Amber after all.

“What are you guys doing?!” Andi stares them down, arms folded.

Cyrus lets out a weak “Just another service we provide?” at the same time that TJ blurts out, “We’re on a date.” Amber laughs at this. “Hey, it’s a floor date!”

“Yeah, well your floor date is interrupting our normal people date,” Amber rolls her eyes.

“REALLY?” Cyrus and TJ shout simultaneously and look at each other and exchange wild grins, Buffy faking sportsmanship kind of grins.

“Yes really. Also, you’re not allowed to be behind the counter, don’t get me fired.”

“We have permission!” Cyrus shouts triumphantly.

“Yeah, Cyrus talked his way into it,” TJ smiles down at him, “He’s very charming.”

“Oh my god, stop flirting with your boyfriend, get off the floor, and get out of here loser,” Amber makes a shooing motion, giving TJ a whack on the back of his neck as she does. Andi raises her eyebrow at this but Amber shrugs, “It’s a sibling thing.”

When TJ and Cyrus are up and headed towards the door, Amber grabs TJ by the wrist and, to his surprise, pulls him into a hug. “Thanks dumbass,” She whispers into his ear.

“You know you can say things, like anything, to me without adding an insult at the end.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it Ty Ty,” Amber smirks at it him but it doesn’t take long before he watches it fade into a genuine smile as she follows Andi back to the table.

*

“Well our work is complete,” Cyrus sighs happily as they walk the streets of Shadyside, “Where to now though? They took like the only good date spot in town. And I really wanted to get some baby taters, I didn’t know they’d bust us that quickly!” he frowns.

“Hey cheer up,” TJ places a hand to Cyrus’s chin, “I’ll get you baby taters tomorrow.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Okay!” This is apparently enough to satisfy Cyrus and he’s back to smiling his smile that’s one of the things TJ loves about him. For now, TJ keeps that love word to himself because it scares him, just a bit, but there are so many more days to get baby taters and so many more days that he can say it for the first time, then the second, then the hundredth.

“Where to now?”

“Hmm?”

“I said where to now?”

“I dunno,” TJ shrugs, “I was thinking...anywhere.”

“Anywhere sounds good to me,” Cyrus laughs. TJ pushes up the rim of his glasses, takes his boyfriend’s hand in his, and they go.

**Author's Note:**

> Ty for reading! Not sure if I can do another part but if I do it'll be for Buffy and/or Cyrus's parents. Happy finale week!


End file.
